Taiwan monitors Chinese military surge, calls China a threat to stability

TAIPEI: Taiwan said on thursday that it was closely watching the Chinese military, which it said posed a rising threat to the region, after a flurry of warplanes passed near the island to join drills with China's Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific.
The Chinese military exercises coincide with a Nato summit in Washington, where a draft communique says China has become a decisive enabler of Russia's war effort in Ukraine, and Beijing continues to pose systemic challenges to Europe and to security.

The Shandong passed close to the Philippines on its way to the Pacific exercises, Taiwan's defence minister said on Wednesday. In its daily update on Chinese military activity over the past 24 hours, released on Thursday morning, Taiwan's defence ministry said it had detected 66 Chinese military aircraft around the island.

Of those, 39 passed to the south and southeast of Taiwan, the ministry said. On wednesday, the ministry said it had detected 36 aircraft heading to the Western Pacific to carry out drills with the Shandong.
Taiwan's defence ministry released two pictures, a grainy black-and-white image of a Chinese J-16 fighter and a colour image of a nuclear capable H-6 bomber, which it said were taken recently but did not say exactly where or when.

"The military has a detailed grasp of the activities in the seas and waters around the Taiwan Strait, including the Chinese Communists' aircraft and ships," ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said in a statement.
Taiwan's forces had tracked the two Chinese warplanes that were photographed, he said.
China's defence ministry has not responded to requests for comment on Shandong's activities.
Speaking to military officers in Taipei, President Lai Ching-te said he will continue to strengthen the island's defences.
"The Chinese Communists' threat to regional stability continues to rise, and its grey zone intrusions into the Taiwan Strait and surrounding areas are also increasing day by day, which are a common challenge to global democracy," he said, according to a statement from his office.
Taiwan says China has been using "grey zone" tactics that stop short of actual combat to test and pressure Taiwanese forces,